Rebooting at Goozex:

After getting settled in a bit, I started offering up some games at Goozex again. I had been on a 'receive-only' binge for a while and burned through most of the 11,000+ points I had accumulated. So it was time to get back to dumping my junk for points.

I have sent out a few things, and also ran into a confusing problem: I can't find some of my DS games. Not stuff I care about, which is either in the game cases or my cool DS bag; no, I can't find the stuff I want to get rid of, like Time Ace and the DS Browser. So far as I can tell it is only DS games, making me think they are all in a bag somewhere ... but I haven't found them yet. I certainly hope they aren't lost ...

I also have continued getting emails from the Goozex forums for threads I'm subscribed to, and added the Goozcast to my iTunes subscriptions. So I figured it was time to rejoin the forums. My typical viewing habit for forums is to 'view unread', look at what I want, mark all read, and go from there. Unfortunately the Goozex forums lack a 'mark all read' button - and there were ~4000 unread posts since my last participation (last December). So I have spent a couple of hours per day for the past several days wading through the posts - 25 per page, clicking to open each individual thread and then closing them, reading some but not all as I went along.

Boy was that a depressing process! I had thought about posting this to the private area of the forums, but even that seemed out of line. So instead, I figured I could post my thoughts here and re-enter the forums much more politely.

What a bunch of whiny, lazy, self-important, impatient, ungrateful, over-indulged, childish brats there are on those forums! I have no idea how the rest of the mods have managed to stay active continuously!

Whew! I mean, out of 4000 posts, I can't estimate how many times people asked about 'what are turns' or 'how does this work', despite there being multiple stickies with names like 'read this before asking a question' or 'how goozex works' and so on. I mean, it is OK to still have questions, but make some attempt to search things out - if I had $1 for every 'I'm new and have some questions' post that is nearly identical to every other 'I'm new and have some questions' post ... well, I'd have enough cash to buy a PS3 and X360 and use Goozex even more! Then there are those who write excited posts because they want instant gratification - they complain that they matched a few hours ago and no response yet ... or they sent a game three days ago and no feedback, or whatever ...

There are many who seek vengeance for those who fail to leave instant feedback, or let a trade request lapse. It is sickening - we know you want the game, but lighten up. People are busy, others are lazy and irresponsible ... but the level of vitriol is amazing!

On the other hand, the immaturity is not one-sided. These sentiments come from a continuous rash of folks trying to 'game the system', with rampant reports of non-shipments, sending broken games, scammers, dual-accounts, and other ways that people are trying to be dishonest traders. And that is just a shame.

Also, I found at least a half-dozen threads that amounted to 'should I buy a PSP'. Also 'what about listing DVD's' or 'Please list UMD movies' or others. These are all valid questions / requests, but c'mon people, there aren't THAT many PSP threads that you can't look in a page or two. It is pure laziness that I find completely annoying - if you have a question, hit 'Search' before you hit 'Post', it is just good netiquette.

And that is my final complaint - poor netiquette and lack of consideration for others. Take time, give your post a real title that helps people help you, and then use actual sentences with meaning to communicate your idea / question. You are not on a cell phone or IM, so leave the 'lol's behind.

I know why I want to return - the guys there like Mark & Jon, like Lurk & Shawn & the rest of the mod crew are really great people I enjoy communicating with, and from listening to the Goozcasts there are some newer folks who are really great as well. So I know I will persevere ... I just needed to blow off some steam first.

(from GamingWithChildren) Imagine this: a new third-person action-RPG is announced, created by one of the grandmasters of the genre, the mastermind behind some of the best games in the beloved Wizardry franchise. It promises tense action, engaging combat, deep skill system, and a complex and engrossing story.

Another new start ...

Well, it has been a couple of years ... but my last post detailed how my previous work laptop had this blog blocked so it wasn't worth trying. But over the past 6 months or so I have been laid off, worked a 3 month spot at a small start up, and more recently been hired and started working at Corning Inc in Corning NY.

This has meant moving the whole family to the 'Southern Tier' of New York. My wife and I mulled this over - we had possibilities in North Carolina, Seattle, and also to stay in Massachusetts. But we knew we wanted out of the local school system but didn't want to move closer to Boston, so we quickly ruled out Massachusetts. The jobs and companies in Seattle and Charlotte were nice but not really clear in terms of long term potential. I had heard some bad things about the company in Charlotte, and while I liked the people I met, all dealings with the corporate entity were awful - and since they had been bought out and the corporate presence was increasing I was anticipating a repeat of the downward spiral I saw at Rohm & Haas. In Seattle, the company was in the midst of a major crisis that had resulted in big layoffs the previous year. It was a big gamble moving cross country into a potentially unstable situation was a bit risky for us.

We loved the Corning area no a visit, and the offer from the company was great and included a guaranteed home buyout option ... very nice in this market. We were lucky and sold our house within two weeks for nearly the asking price, and found a wonderful home in a little place called Horseheads, which has the best schools in the region. It has been two and a half months now and we are happily settled in.